Yasen Captures Heptathlon Title

Former Coeur d’Alene prep standout Corissa Yasen, competing for Purdue, won the heptathlon event Thursday in the NCAA Track and Field Championships.

Yasen, who took the lead on the javelin throw and then clinched the victory by winning the 800-meter run - the last of the seven events - in 2 minutes, 14.94 seconds, finished with 5,765 points.

Nicole Haynes of Southern Cal finished second with 5,613 points.

Idaho freshman Tawanda Chiwira advanced to Saturday’s finals of the 400 by finishing third in his heat with a time of 46.62, nearly a second slower than his season best. Vandals sophomore Felix Kamangirira ran a 47.77 and finished sixth in his heat.

Chiwira, the Big Sky Conference champion in both the 200 and 400 meters, will enter Saturday night’s final with the eighth fastest time.

Idaho’s Frank Bruder will run in the 3,000 steeplechase final tonight.

Washington State senior Dominique Arnold won his heat in the men’s 110 high hurdles with a wind-aided 13:32, the fastest among 16 qualifiers for tonight’s semifinals.

Leo Slack will compete for the Cougars in the decathlon, which starts today.

A year after a disqualification that he still claims was unfair, Ato Boldon of UCLA blazed to a 10.06 clocking in the 100 preliminaries.

Boldon, who has the fastest time in the world this year at 9.93, was disqualified in last year’s NCAA 100 semifinals for a false start. He went on to win the NCAA 200 title, then earned the bronze medal in the 100 in last year’s world championships.

On a cool evening at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field, Boldon led nearly from the start and pulled away at the finish.

“The track’s fast,” Boldon said. “It’s going to be under 10 in the final. I guarantee it.”

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